


The Return

by tricksterity



Category: Dishonored (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, badass boyfriends saving each other n shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-17
Updated: 2014-09-17
Packaged: 2018-02-17 17:53:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2318156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tricksterity/pseuds/tricksterity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The High Overseer’s door was open, and Corvo walked in without hesitation. Templeton turned around to him with what was more a smirk than a smile, and Corvo barely had any time to register what was happening before the floor was rushing up to meet him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Return

Corvo was thrust back into consciousness by the sound of hard pounding on his bedroom door, the vision of his lilac dream world fading away within seconds. He sighed, splayed out on his back with limbs skewed akimbo, one hand tucked under his pillow holding a small dagger. The sunlight streamed in through a thin slit where his curtains met, casting a slim beam of light across his skin.

“Lord Protector Attano!” came a voice from beyond his door when the knocking stopped. “You have a summons from High Overseer Templeton, he wishes to see you at the Office of the High Overseer as soon as possible!” Corvo called out a response, and slowly hauled his body out of bed with a grimace, bruises pulling and stretching.

Ever since Emily had been placed on the throne after the assassination of her mother Jessamine, Corvo had taken to training the new city watch guards along with his duties to protect her.

Corvo dressed for the day in his usual dark coat, tucking his sword into its scabbard; his hand lingered over his crossbow filled with sleeping darts before he took that too. The High Overseer had never summoned Corvo before, and given his relationship with the past High Overseer (banished from Dunwall, stripped of his title and bearing the heretic’s mark that Corvo himself had branded onto his face), it would be better to go prepared.

The cold water was a bit of a shock to his system as it dripped from his face. He would admit that he’d been getting a little complacent in these months of peace, enjoying that he didn’t have to be on guard every minute of the day, escape plans flitting throughout his head at a mile a minute with every step.

Lastly, he pulled on his leather gloves, now necessary to wear daily. During the plague days nobody had seen him as he’d stuck mostly to the rooftops, but now he had to be absolutely sure that he covered up the black tattoo on the back of his left hand: the Mark of the Outsider, given to only eight in existence, feared even more than the heretic’s brand. The powers it gave him were beyond human capabilities, but it had to be exposed to open air for it to work. Covered up, he hadn’t felt the Mark burn in months, he hadn’t blinked out of existence or slowed time or seen through walls in almost a year, and it was strange, pretending to be a normal human.

Corvo wasn’t stopped as he strode with purpose down the city streets, no longer having to sneak across rooftops and steam pipes to get to where he needed to. People moved out of his way, ducked their heads and bowed as he passed.

The Office of the High Overseer was on the fourth floor of the Overseers’ building, and last time he’d been here there were thirty guards out for his head. But that had been another life, when he’d been the Blade of Dunwall, and nobody had ever seen his face. The Overseers’ faces were covered by those sneering masks they insisted on wearing, but Corvo was sure that each and every one of them watched intently as he walked past, the hair on the back of his neck standing.

The High Overseer’s door was open, and Corvo walked in without hesitation. Templeton turned around to him with what was more a smirk than a smile, and Corvo barely had any time to register what was happening before the floor was rushing up to meet him.

In a sick parody of just that morning, Corvo was jerked out of unconsciousness by a loud, echoing noise that resounded throughout the room. His eyes cracked open to see that nearly every Overseer had filed into the room, the heavy metal doors having just shut behind them. Corvo was kneeling on hard concrete, held down by two iron cuffs around his wrists that were connected to the floor by short chains that didn’t allow him to stand.

The room was silent.

“Corvo Attano, Lord Protector to our Empress Emily Kaldwin… and a worshipper of the Outsider,” the High Overseer seethed, spitting the last word with the most venom he could muster, which was an awful lot. “Can you tell me, Lord Attano, what the laws are regarding worship of the false deity known as the Outsider?”

“The law dictates,” Corvo recited quietly, mouth dry, “that any worship of the Outsider is forbidden and punishable by torture and/or death, delivered by the High Overseer.” Templeton grinned menacingly, both rows of teeth glinting in the dim light.

“Perfect, Lord Attano. Or should I call you the Blade of Dunwall?” he spat, throwing something onto the ground, the object clinking with a metallic sound. Corvo felt the blood drain from his face as he saw what it was – the clockwork mask that Piero had crafted for him during the plague to conceal his identity. He was sure that it was locked away in his safe, along with the butchered Heart of Jessamine, how had Templeton gotten it?

“You, Lord Attano, were the one who terrorized this city during the days of the plague, and if the cured weepers are to believe… you terrorized it _most_ effectively,” Templeton sneered, ripping off Corvo’s left glove, leaving the dark Mark on his hand open for them all to see. The Overseers gasped collectively at the sign of their most hated nemesis and some of them even went as far as to begin praying.

“The bodyguard of our beloved Empress… and traitor to the Order. The punishment for worshipping the Outsider is death, delivered by me. Do you have anything to say in defense?” Templeton asked with a sneer. Corvo simply looked up at him through the curtains of his dark hair and grinned, feeling the Mark tingle.

“You think that this is just the symbol of a worshipper?” Corvo asked quietly, menacingly. “This Mark is a gift, bestowed upon me by the god you so refuse to acknowledge.”

“Lies!” Templeton hissed. The Mark glowed, and Corvo blinked out of existence with a fuchsia glow just long enough for the shackles to fall to the floor. Corvo grinned as he saw the High Overseer’s face drain of blood as he felt a warm hand settle onto the back of his neck, comforting and grounding.

“My dear Corvo… what have you gotten yourself into?” the Outsider purred in a voice like sin from behind him, and Corvo didn’t have to turn to know that the god’s eyes were entirely black, glinting like tar in the dim light. There was a lilac glow, and Corvo’s hand gripped the hilt of his confiscated blade.

 

It had been much too long since his sword had seen blood, and his oath of mercy had just run out.

 

**Author's Note:**

> highkey i subscribe to mute!corvo (dh2 shut up) but i couldnt think of a way to make this work as well without him having dialogue. i might change it up at some point so his lines are said by the outsider but then it wouldnt be a badass reveal... hmm..


End file.
